CLAUDE DÉRUET Nancy?, 1588 – Nancy, 1660

Saint Theodore Stratelates and George (recto) Temptation of Christ (verso) c. 1615-1620 Pen, wash of brown and grey-indigo inks on the recto and pen and brown ink wash on the verso. 315 x 225 mm

Inscriptions and marks: watermark, sun similar to Briquet 13946 (Venice). Provenance: Switzerland, private collection; France, private collection.

Verso In 1956, François-Georges Pariset, expert a spear and a shield and who is usually specialised in painting from the Lorraine represented on horseback; but especially region, described in this way the art of Claud Saint Theodore Stratelates, martyred Roman Déruet: «his imagination, his diversity, his soldier whose cult doesn’t recall the drive without a doubt will continue to Lorrainian or Roman traditions but rather the astonish us». More than a half century later, imagery of the orthodox church. This is why his prediction is confirmed with the drawing he is in only found in Italy near Venice in his we present here. capacity as of the city and in a composite statue in piazzetta San Marco A good number of documents from archives, (known from two sculptures, a Saint in Lorraine and in Italy, inform us on the life Theodore and a ). Déruet and career of the artist. Even so, certain freezes the Roman warrior, resting his two details are missing when it concerns evoking hands on an impressive sword, head lowered his time in Italy, which traditionally concludes and arm forward, in a complex contrapposto, the formative years of the French painters of elegant and expressive and which imitates to the Grand Siècle. Déruet is mentioned to be in the perfection a motif of the Florentine Bagnaia (near Viterbe) from 1613 until four Alessandro Allori for the tapestries of the years later, according to Jacques Bellange, villa of Poggio in Caiano, of which the after which he executed the drawing of Saint Louvre conserves the modello (Combat d’un Charles Borromée guérissant les pestiférés (Saint taureau et d’un lion, inv. 20504 – Fig. 1). Charles Borromée healing the lepers) Louvre, inv. 11594); the young artist from Lorraine at that time aided the landscape artist Agostino Tassi in the decoration of the Casino Montalto. It is after that when he is active in Rome, first as a student of Tempesta – and doubtless as well of the Cavalier d’Arpino – then as protégé of the Borghese: around 1615-1616 Déruet produces three drawings which would illustrate the Missale monasticum… of Paul V, and paints al the oratory of the Villa Borghese. We find Déruet again in Nancy in 1619, where he resumes the position of Ordinary Painter of the Dukes which had been left vacant by the death of his first master; it is probably at this date that he executes the fabulous Amazone of the Morgan Fig. 1. Alessandro Allori, Combat d’un taureau et d’un lion Library (inv. 109720). (Battle between a bull and a lion) Pen and brown ink, brown wash, white highlights on brown paper, 270 x 354 mm. Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. 20504. Our Saint Theodore Stratelates and Saint George brings new light to bear on the Italian sojourn of Déruet. We could until now only suspect Saint George and Saint Theodore Stratelates that the artist from Lorraine spent some time are shown with their abdomens emphasised, in northern Italy and notably in Toscany, robust and almost globular – evoking cradle of the maniera that inspired the artist so Goltzius – which crystallises the maniera of much; this drawing confirms his stay in Déruet during the first years of his career, as Florence, and even unknown ties to Venice. in the engravings of the Missale monasticum. In effect, the representation associating these The two are wearing little-ornamented two dragon-dominating saints is surprising: armour all’antica indicating the heritage of first of all Saint George on the right, holding Tempesta, but which announce the scenes of Amazons so dear to Déruet; starting from the model of his Roman master, he constructed a repertoire of motifs which his workshop and he developed ad libitum from the years 1620 according to the various commissions, themes and props (old armour, but also horses and decorative objects, always strongly tinted by his maniera). The Amazone of the Morgan Library (Fig. 2), while still close to the teachings of Tempesta, shows a similar execution to our sheet; specifically, in the sinuous lines of the lower limbs – knees, feet –, the form of the panache and of the nose prove that the two drawings come from the same hand and the same date: around 1615- 1620, at the time of his Italian training or shortly after his return to Nancy. Déruet uses a nervous and confident pen of which the traces end in loops. The thin contours reveal the curves dear to the artist from Nancy, Fig. 2. Claude Déruet, Mounted Amazon with a Spear. reinforced with a dilute wash to delicately Pen and brown ink, with a yellowish-brown wash shade and bring to life the figures; the artist containing minute flecks of gold, on paper; also in distances himself from Bellange, his first some passages, t races of greenish pigment ; t races of underdrawing in black chalk,14 1/ 4 x 12 3/ 8 inches master, and from his tormented manner of (362 x 313 mm). New York, Morgan Library (inv. execution which he still reproduced in the 1959.4). early Saint Charles Borromée guérissant les pestiférés. If his manner has evolved towards this way the activity of the peasants as well as more restraint, Déruet still conserves these the distant shores. The devil-hermit – with perturbing rictus and refined fingers, tics amusing and evocative ears and horns – is the inherited from Bellange and still more Christ, with his crooked fingers and their marked in the drawing from the Louvre. We posture, confirm that it concerns the same note the fierce muzzle of the dragon, which hand as for Saint Theodore and Saint George. An announces the creatures of the Combat à la identical dating of the verso imposes itself if Barrière of 1627 conceived with Jacques one notes the perfect similarity of the inks. Callot. Mélanie Logre The verso of our sheet isn’t any less astonishing; the Temptation of Christ is a pretext for a wide, deliciously picturesque, This drawing will be published in a countryside, made up of wooded hills, forthcoming study dedicated to the drawing thatched cottages, windmills, and in the works by Claude Déruet by Mélanie Logre, background, a wide river bordering a village. expert in the artist from Lorraine. With his elegant simplicity borrowed from the best Flemish models, the landscape reminds us that Deruet, who had previously had us accustomed to his portraits and his amazons, had also been a student of Agostino Tassi and had prepared the vast background of the Portrait de Madame de Saint-Balmont (Nancy, musée Lorrain, inv. 52.3.1). The verso is very detailed, depicting the countryside with a very fine pen, showing in